Reproductive Health

TL;DR Folic acid is a type of folate- one of the B vitamins (B9). A total of 600 mcg of folic acid is recommended daily for anyone who is pregnant or could become pregnant. This can be difficult to get from food sources alone, SO a prenatal vitamin or standalone supplement containing at least 400 Read more…

Transgender Awareness Week is a time to protect, advocate for, celebrate, uplift, understand, and honor our trans community. Why is this important? There are many reasons to celebrate and cultivate awareness of issues around the transgender experience. Let’s start with a crucial goal of public health efforts: investigating and addressing health *hazards* and root causes. Read more…

A:  Potentially, yes!  Semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) may reduce birth control effectiveness and may increase risk of birth defects if taken during pregnancy. The new GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs have been a breakthrough in treating obesity and Type 2 diabetes.  They significantly improve blood glucose levels and lower body weight.  Read more…

A: Yes, and women are also more likely to experience chronic pain than men. In the past few months, the New York Times and Serial productions released a podcast called “The Retrievals.” This gripping series told the stories of women who underwent egg retrievals (an invasive surgical procedure) with no anesthesia at a Yale University Read more…

A: The number of people estimated to be transgender in the U.S. has increased slightly over the past ~5-6 years, particularly among those aged 13-24 years. TL; DR: There has been an increase in the number of teens and young adults estimated to be transgender in the U.S. There may be several reasons for this, Read more…

Q: How does the new OTC birth control pill compare to prescription ones? – Lili C. A: The newly approved OTC birth control pill is a low-dose progestin-only pill that was previously prescription-only. It is very safe and highly effective. This particular pill (norgestrel 0.075 mg, now marketed as Opill) was initially approved for prescription Read more…

A: Differences in brain structure and/or function, hormone levels during different phases of development, and even genetics seem to shape our internal sense of gender identity. We all have a gender identity, or an internal sense of self as belonging somewhere on a gender spectrum. For most people, their gender identity aligns with what is Read more…

The Short Answer: Like many holistic care practices today, there is a valid concern that doulas are at risk of being “gentrified” in the sense that they will become more inaccessible as they grow more popular. But here’s the truth: Anyone who is planning a family, starting a family, or is looking to make a Read more…

Preeclampsia and other severe pregnancy complications, especially among Black people, have thankfully been getting more attention in the media in the last couple of weeks. These individual stories are so important because they humanize what can sometimes become numbing statistics. And they are highlighting some of the significant health disparities in the U.S. that Black Read more…

Happy Pride Month, Nerds! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️⚧ Each day, we find ourselves on the receiving end of rhetoric that minimizes and even directly threatens the joy, safety, lives, and livelihoods of LGBTQIA+ folks. This, combined with the ongoing challenges to reproductive health rights, means that we could all use any emotional support we can come across. And Read more…

There are lots of different types of “pills” related to pregnancy. It’s most helpful to break them into two categories: Contraceptives PREVENT someone from becoming pregnant. Other types of pills are used when there is ALREADY an established pregnancy. It’s mifepristone, from this second group, whose FDA approval is currently being contested in the U.S. Read more…

Syphilis rates are on the rise in the U.S. There are a variety of factors that might be responsible for this, including underfunding of public health clinics and failure to train clinicians to take adequate sexual histories. Rates of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) have been climbing in the U.S., especially since 2020 when the COVID pandemic Read more…